University of Vermont undergraduate tuition rates will increase 2 percent for state residents and 4.5 percent  for out-of-staters next year. The UVM Board of Trustees’ Budget, Finance and Investment Committee on Friday approved the increase, as well as a 3.5 percent bump in room and board, for the 2025-2026 academic year. Interim president Patricia Prelock said she initially viewed a proposed 4.5 percent increase as a “nonstarter.” But rising costs, including for health care and personnel, led her to change her mind. “It pains me,” Prelock said at the committee meeting. The board will spend the next several months looking for places to cut costs; it's not yet clear where. “I’m committed to working with my team, our faculty, our staff, to do several things … to contain costs not only in health care, but to reduce costs in our administrative and academic units in a thoughtful and strategic manner,” Prelock said. [content-3] Tuition for out-of-state undergrads, now $42,724, will rise to $44,647. Tuition for Vermonters will rise from $16,280 to $16,606. Medical school tuition will rise 4.5 percent, to $38,738 for Vermont students and $69,404 out-of-staters. About 20 percent of UVM's students are from Vermont. The increase for these students could be worse, said Donald McCree, chair of the budget committee. “Not to diminish $400, but when you look at the dollars that this generates … when you boil it down to the dollars, it’s a lot, but it’s not $5,000,” he said. Former president Suresh Garimella froze in-state tuition for undergraduates in 2019, and next year's hike will be the first since then. Last fall, trustees approved a 3.5 percent increase for out-of-state undergrads for the current academic year. UVM is facing a $10 million budget deficit this year — though Richard Cate, the university’s vice president for finance and administration, said UVM can close that gap with discretionary funds. Cate has blamed skyrocketing health insurance costs, and said the tuition increase won’t be nearly enough to address gaps in the $941 million annual budget that are expected in coming years. Utilities and personnel are also huge expenses that need to be addressed, McCree said. “We’ve got challenges which are both revenue-based and expense-based,” McCree said at the meeting. “Frankly we’ve had expense challenges for years.” [content-2] UVM has long been one of the more expensive public colleges in the nation. Tuition, fees, and room and board bring…